


All Signs Point to Liverpool

by periwinklelarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Growing Up, Kid Fic, M/M, WIP, and the color blue, if i miss anything please tell me, louis loves hedgehogs, reunited, this starts off as a
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2018-09-20 21:38:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9517226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklelarry/pseuds/periwinklelarry
Summary: Louis runs away and Harry starts to fall for his sister's classmate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter. I hope you enjoy. If you have any questions/comments/feedback please leave it somewhere in the comments! Please just don't be too rude about it, I'm v insecureeeeee. But honestly honestly honestly truly honestly, I appreciate any criticism so please be real with me. Tell me what I can do to improve! I want to make this experience great for all of us, so if I need to make the quality of my content better then tell me where/why/how. 
> 
> i'll stop talking now. i hope you enjoy this.

the only thing louis wishes he could hear right now is his tears hitting the bathroom floor. in his ten years of living, he's survived winter storms warmer than this and panic attacks shorter. he's sick and exhausted of his weekends resorting to being locked into the bathroom with nothing to do but swim in his tears. every single time he is back in this house, they torture him. the relationship he has with his father and stepmother is toxic. it just seems like he can't get anything right. day after day he tries to please them, but it's all just a trap. he will never meet the expectations that they have set for him. it's like being taped to a table and having needles pressed into his skin. like acupuncture, the collection of needles keeps on growing and growing. sometimes they push one straight into him and sometimes they tease it in, holding it against him while he drowns in suspense. every second counts as he waits for them to break skin, and even then it's not enough. once they get into the skin and the blood starts to rush out, they just hold it there and he doesn't know if they'll pull it out and stab him once again or if they'll push even deeper. no matter what the circumstance is, it still hurts.

it still hurts because it's his own father. his own father pricks and pokes into louis' body like he's some guinea pig or patient undergoing some medical test. only, the test is too see how high louis' stress levels rise and how long it is before he rushes off to the bathroom to sit in the tub for hours on end.

but today he's had enough.

today, the storms are haywire, the panic attacks are longer, and the needles inject him with physical and emotional pain. every single angle of louis is being attacked and not even his little bubble in his hedgehog themed bathroom can save him.

and the noises. the noises are terrifying.  
his dad is a robot following the commands of an evil scientist. he's yelling at louis and she's yelling at his dad on what to yell at louis for and two year old georgia is crying.

bloody hell, this isn't what louis had planned.

louis was supposed to be in Liverpool with his mum and the rest of his family at some birthday party.

he whole body spasms as he rushes out of the tub. he's moving too fast he finds out as his face meets the floor but this does not stop him. he can get out of this if his calculations are correct.......

he props his little body up on all fours and crawls over to the cabinet next to his toilet. he quickly opens it and sticks half of his body in.. it's in there somewhere, he knows it.. his hands brush past the wipes, the disinfectant, the bathroom cleaner, and multiple hair products. no no no this is not what he wants!  
until... aha! there it is!  
he gasps as he comes across the black notebook dressed in stickers and labeled "lou's SPECIAL book! (HANDS OFF LOTTIE, GEORGIE, AND FIZZ!!!)." somewhere in the book, somewhere past the drawings and his rants, lies louis' "bank account." he gets to that page and his face lights up like a lightning storm. he was right. he has enough money for a train. he's sure that once he gets to where mum and mark and lottie and fizzy are, he can just call them and they'll pick him up! with this new information, he throws his book back into it's hiding place and rushes off to his room. he compares himself to sonic the hedgehog as he dashes around his room and shoves all of his necessities into his favorite blue bag. he can't help but snicker when he thinks of the way his mum and his sisters will react when they see him, but for now he has to keep his mission a top secret. once his bag is full he straps it onto his back and tiptoes over to his bedroom door. he scans his surroundings and tries to listen to any sounds indicating where everyone is. they all seem to be settled in his father's room, and if he can get past his father's room, then he can get to the train station fast. so louis does the one thing he knows how to do best.  
he runs to his bathroom and shuts the door behind him. louis takes his time in there, raiding the cabinets for all of his "spy gear" while coming up with a further game plan. if he just crawls out of the bathroom, tiptoes down the stairs, snags his skateboard from behind the couch, then bolts out the front door, then he's SURE he'll make it to the train station in great time. he's done getting ready and he stares at himself. ash ketchum gloves? check. handy dandy yoshi watch? check. sonic beanie? check. and he has his special sonic scarf stuffed into his hoodie pockets so he can use that just in case it gets too cold. he locks eyes with himself and takes a few deep breaths, preparing for the great big night ahead of him. he's ready.  
and getting out of the house goes exactly as planned.  
he crawls out of the bathroom without a peep, tiptoes down the stairs gracefully, slides over to the couch smoothly, and bolts out the door swiftly. he slams the door behind him and cries out in victory. he made it! now it's only a few minutes away to the train station and he'll be OUT of manchester! he's a man with a plan and nobody can stop him!

"Louis!" a voice from inside growls and louis stiffens.making sure the door shuts quietly was not in his plan.  
the voice gets closer and closer to the door and louis is breaking a sweat in the cold winter air. he drops his skateboard and starts on his journey. he's a couple of houses down when he looks back and sees his dad running out to the driveway and shouting incompetent nonsense at him, but it's too late now. louis is GONE.

that is.. until he hears his father telling his stepmother to start the car.

breathing. right. louis needs to breathe in situations. that's what he was taught to do. he needs to breathe and he needs to think. where can he go? where can he hide? stan lives by him, but going to stan's house would be too obvious. that's the first place they'd look. hannah lives by him too, but hannah's parents take him to school every morning and they know louis' parents. that would not help his case at all.  
who can he call? everyone lives across town.

  
but then he remembers there is a girl his age at school and they get on well, she definitely would not mind a visit from louis.

off to gemma's house it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was okay!! Again, if there is anyway you think you could help me on this then please tell me! This is all so new to me. It's my first time putting anything I've ever written out there. I will continue to work on this if anyone likes it but if not then that's okay too haha Thanks for putting in time to read this, though. I really appreciate it. :) ♥


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis reaches Gemma's house and chooses to hide out there for a while. He meets a fellow named Norman and Gemma's brother Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's nearly been a year. I wanted to post the first chapter and see if I got any feedback so I could continue from there. I had plans to finish the story on my computer before I even posted anything else so I could give weekly updates on ao3. Unfortunately, I have not finished the story. I do have a few chapters written though, so I'll continue with this testing the waters thing. I didn't get much feedback on the last chapter but a couple of people liked it so that's pretty cool haha Sooooo, yeah. This is the next chapter. Hope you like it, PLEASE let me know how you feel about it :)

His heart is racing and his body is giving out as he reaches the cozy home. The outside looks just as the inside, flawless from the roof to the ground. He remembers visiting once, he was at Luke's house when they decided to give Gemma a ring. He remembers Gemma's tiny head peeking out from behind the front bay window. Despite the gloomy weather that day, a rainbow maintained in the garden right underneath it. It was a sight louis could not take his eyes off of. He had this feeling rise up in his gut, a feeling of loss, a feeling of emptiness.

 

He shakes himself out of his thoughts. There is no longer a garden in the front yard, but the bungalow is still dressed to the nines. It's a home, if louis ever saw one, he hopes the inside is just as comfortable.

 

Gemma is once again looking over the kitchen sink into the outside world and she makes eye contact with him. De ja vu strikes as gemma's head plops down from behind the sink and out the front door. Her warming smile is reaching out to him and inviting him inside, he's easily drawn to it, rushing over to her.  
"Louis!!" she shrieks happily, "What are you doing here?!"

 

"Gemma! can you help me?"

 

"Sure," the smile never leaves. She gently tugs on his arm and pulls him inside.

 

Not much has changed. Picture frames full of happy people still cover the walls, the brown couches still suffer from weather and tear, forming a crease near the cracks, and Sonic is still in the corner. Louis remembers how excited he was to discover that somebody he knew was into the same things as him.

This specific Sonic is not familiar to him, though. The Sonic he knows only owns red shoes and white gloves, but Gemma's Sonic has on a flower crown and a pink sundress.

 

"Muummmm!! Louis is here!" Gemma shouts at the nearest wall while leading him to her room, flower crown Sonic still at the back of his mind.

 

"What's wrong with your Sonic?" Louis asks, taking a seat in her blue bean bag chair.

 

"You mean Norman?" she corrects.

 

"Nor-what?"

 

"My brother likes t-"

 

"Gem!! who is this??" a voice interrupts, Louis head whips around to catch sight of a little.. err.. boy??

 

"Harry, this is my friend from school, Louis. Louis, this is Harry my little brother."

 

Harry's big doe eyes widen with wonder, his smile exactly like Gemma's: warm and gentle and enthralling. his hand reaches out to shake Louis' but Louis is too distracted by the garden lying on top of the boy's bowl cut. It looks just like Norman's.

 

"Does Norman know you took his headband?" Louis huffs, crossing his arms and turning away from Harry. Harry's smile immediately drops and his eyes shrink, Louis shudders at this sudden change. He'd rather see the boy smile.

 

"It's not Norman's! we have matching ones!" he fights back.

 

"You do?" Louis loosens, trying to hold back his interest.

 

"ANYYYWAAYYYSSS!" Gemma cuts in, interrupting the conversation between her brother and friend. "Louis said he needed help and this is only for big kids so we'll see you tomorrow Harry byeee."

 

Before Louis can stop her, she's shooing Harry out and shutting the door in his face, a muffled "heeeyyyy!" is heard behind it.

 

"That wasn't very nice!" Louis shouts.

 

"Did you want him to know what's going on?" Gemma's eyebrow raises and Louis feels subjected to it's power.

 

"No.." he mutters, staring down at the floor.

 

"Okay, well!" Gemma screams, trying her best to get her point across to him.

 

He mentions that he is hiding and she offers to keep him in the house forever. She's sure that her mum would keep him safe and warm, she'll even help him with his homework and take him on holiday. Louis knows that that will not happen, he's just trying to get to Liverpool, but he appreciates her trying to comfort him.  
While they wait for the time to pass, Gemma busts out her gaming consoloe while the two start to play Mario Kart. Gemma claims to be the best at it and she wants him to SEE that she is, but all Louis can think of is flower crowns.

 

Do they look nice on all boys? Or is it just Harry? Should he make a flower crown for his own Sonic toy? Should he name him something silly too?

 

"Gemm!" a muffled voice seeps through Gemma's closed door "i hear you playing Mario Kart and I want to play."

 

Louis can almost hear his pouting through his voice. The screen in front of him freezes at the sound of Gemma's groan, soon enough the door is cracked open and now the 8 year old is tumbling in and making grabby hands at Louis' controller.

 

"Wait your turn Harry!" Gemma bosses, Louis doesn't like to see her so bossy. He's not familiar with bossy her, and quite frankly he doesn't like the look on Harry's face when she bosses him around. 

 

"Tt's okay Gem, he can play for me," Louis offers, handing his remote out to Harry.

 

"Lou! it's okay! We were playing! If he wants to play, he can after this round. Isn't that right, Harry?"

 

The two of them take a look at the boy, whose eyes are now as full as the moon, as he nods in agreement with his sister.

 

"See, now let's finish this so I can destroy you!" she shouts but Louis is too busy thinking about how the boy's eyes match the stems of the flowers on his crown. When he passes the remote to Harry after their round of Mario Kart, he notices the complimenting blue glitter shimmering on Harry's fingernails but doesn't say anything.

 

Later when Gemma rushes off to the bathroom, Louis asks Harry how to make a flower crown and Louis can't wait to test the process out for himself.

 

He eventually forgets why he ran off to Gemma and Harry's house in the first place and his world starts to crash down when Anne, Gemma and Harry's mum, rushes in, brows tilted in concern, with his dad hot on her heels and Louis' sonic scarf in tow. His eyes widen when he spots the scarf. His hand immediately reaches for the pocket in his jumper and he gasps when he doesn't feel the scarf there. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he ran from the street to Gemma's front porch. Things start to burn the moment Louis is dragged out of the house, his father's hand turning into needles poking into his skin. Louis takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and counts to 3 to keep his mind off of the pain. The last thing he remembers seeing is Harry's innocent, puzzled face mouthing the words "Bye Louis." 

 

The sound doesn't reach his ears until he's dreaming in bed that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not as strong as a writer as some of the other people on here, but I truly want to become better because I've been writing for as long as I can remember. Feedback is greatly appreciated. I know know know this will not be the greatest fic any of you ever read, but like I said I'm kind of using this to practice. ANYWAYS, THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking the time to read this!! Hope you keep up with this fic :) ♥


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